


At World's End

by Zev423



Category: Loki - Fandom, Tom Hiddleston - Fandom
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-25
Updated: 2019-08-27
Packaged: 2020-09-26 03:04:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,794
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20382640
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zev423/pseuds/Zev423
Summary: Vee is a waitress with baggage. Her friends include Sharon, her manager, and the homeless guy behind the garbage. When the homeless man mysteriously disappears, Vee finds herself stalked by several people...or is it just one person? One thing is clear, Loki is convinced she has something important and will stop at nothing to get it from her.





	1. Chapter One

Chapter One

Vee takes the garbage to the dumpster at the end of every shift. It doesn’t matter if it’s full or not, though it is almost always full, even when she’s worked a double shift. Operating a bar and grill means that if she doesn’t take that garbage out, even late at night, the next morning the whole place will smell like old cabbage and grease. Not exactly appetizing.

The streetlights are on when Vee kicks the back door open as she drags what looks like a dead body across the floor. She steels herself to pick up the overstuffed black bag, knowing full well what dragging it across the concrete of the back alley would do.

She looks around for signs of life before hauling the garbage over her shoulder like a stinky Santa Claus sack. The alley was empty, yet when she turned back around with the trash, the residential homeless guy was there.

“Hey, why don’t you leave that to me.” He said, smiling with yellowed teeth behind a scraggly beard.  
Vee was startled by his sudden appearance. “Shit, I didn’t see you.”

The homeless man took the bag lightly with one hand as if he were holding a beer. “We’re used to not being seen. I take no offense.” The homeless man frowned. “You know I don’t like you out here alone. It worries me.”

Vee thought back to an encounter with a couple of drunk patrons and flinched. Several months ago, she was taking out the garbage when a couple of guys started harassing her. They were mad they got cut off and kicked out, so they decided to take it out on her.

She couldn’t remember what they looked like, or if she even looked at their faces, but they circled her under the dim glow of the streetlamps mocking her.

“Hey Tinkerbell,” one called her.

“She’s not Tinkerbell, her hair is too short and brown for that.” Another slurred.

“Yeah, she looks like that bitch from Twilight.”

“Dude, we’re like in Seattle. It must be her.” The one in the white shirt laughed.

“I just work here guys,” Vee told them.

She sucked in a deep breath and tried to walk to the door when she felt a hand on her wrist, her heart seized, and all those self-defense techniques were gone. She had to fight and yell; she knew that much. It was far too loud in the bar for anyone to hear her, but people on the streets would filter into the alley looking for the source of the noise.

Vee shouted as she pulled away, the guy was too drunk to hold tight. She kicked him in the junk as she made a break for the door, but the other guy held his liquor better and was on her before she reached the doorknob.

He slammed her face against the door as he tried to fondle her. Vee could taste the bile in her throat and she wasn’t scared anymore, she was pissed. With one chunky heel, she stomped on the drunk’s foot as hard as she could. He stepped back, allowing her enough room to bash her head into his nose.  
That was enough to get him to back off. Before Vee could make a full retreat, the first guy made another attempt to grab her, but that was when they heard a man shouting.

“Officer! Officer help! Over here!” A homeless man dressed in oversized clothes, a trench coat, and a large cowboy hat was on the street, waving towards the waterfront.

If the homeless man was bluffing, Vee braced the wall with one hand and kicked directly up at the closest guy. It was pure satisfaction to watch his feet go out from underneath him. The second guy tried to run for it, but the homeless man was not bluffing. Two policemen were out of breath from running up the steep hill, but the cops caught the guy who ran.

After the arrests were made and the statements were taken, Vee approached the homeless guy. He looked like any other homeless guy, but his speech was refined, he had an accent she couldn't quite place.

“Hey man, thanks for that. Can I make something for you to eat?” She asked.

He took a seat beside the dumpster. “I’ll take whatever you make.”

She returned with a burger and fries in a take-out box with a bottle of pale ale. She also made sure the homeless man got a pickle and an extra side of fries. The homeless man happily took the offerings.

“It seems I should stick around. I may be needed here.”

Vee assured him that something like that was not a common occurrence, but he stayed regardless. Whenever he was around, he would take the garbage to the dumpster for her, and she would bring food out to him. Her boss didn’t mind. Sharon said it was cheaper than installing security cameras. Besides, she made the food off the clock.

She and the homeless man had grown to be friends. They never spoke about anything of importance, mostly the weather and sometimes he would listen to Vee talk about people in the bar. She didn't even know his name, to be honest. But when he wasn't there, she felt his absence.

“What would you like for dinner today?” Vee asked as the homeless man tossed the garbage into the dumpster.

“Oh, any old thing will do, my dear. Compliments to the chief.”

He didn’t know that Vee was the chief, or that she already had a pile of spaghetti waiting for him. She brought out his spaghetti with meatballs and ale. He seemed so content and happy with his little compostable take-out box and Indiana pale ale. Vee wished she felt peace like that. She could only imagine her problems were nothing in comparison to his, but at that moment, he had no qualms about life.

“I haven’t seen you around lately.” She said as she leaned against the building.

“I was in the hospital for a cough. I had something called pneumonia.”

Vee scoffed at his attempt at humor. How could he not know what pneumonia was? “Oh, yea?”

“It’s common for those in their later years. Everything started hurting since I came here.” The homeless man didn’t seem to be speaking to her just then.

“My dad says the same thing. He says the Washington weather is hell on his arthritis and that I should move to Arizona with him.”

Their talk was interrupted several times by his cough, which made Vee ask more than she should have.

“You got treated for that, right?”

“Well, yes, but the healers found other things, things they could not heal. I won’t be long in this world.”

She wished she didn’t ask. Vee mumbled apologies and asked if there was anything she could do. Regretting each word after another, but they wouldn’t stop coming out.

“There is something I would like; would you please take this?” The homeless man asked as he took a necklace off.

It was a gold coin with a small hole punched in, allowing for a thin chain to pass through. The coin had markings Vee didn’t recognize, and the outer edges were sharp, like little golden spikes.

“I can’t take this.” Vee protested. It was clearly of value, and taking something from a dying homeless man felt awful. “Don’t you have family or friends?”

“No, not here. All were long gone before I came here. Please, take it.” He urged.  
Reluctantly, Vee accepted the gift. If she didn’t, he would die wearing it. Someone would loot his dead body and take it from him.

“I only ask that you keep it safe and away from desperate, needy hands.”

Vee went home that night wearing the necklace. She drank a beer and cried. She hadn’t cried this hard since the night she broke up with Jessie. Vee didn’t break up with Jessie, though. It was more like Jessie strung her along for almost a year before curb stomping her heart.

She met Jessie through mutual friends. She was tall and lean and liked hiking. At first, Vee thought she was a little too rough around the edges, but once the initial social anxiety wore off she saw Jessie for who she was. A kind, grounded woman who was just trying to make her way through the world.

Pushing thoughts of Jessie away, Vee went back to the fridge and got herself another beer. When it became clear that Vee wasn’t college or career material, her mom had the garage renovated into a studio apartment. Her mom worked in real estate, so she had some connections. The studio was pretty sweet. The roof was raised and had exposed beams, and the bedroom was a loft above the living room.  
The only downside was that the bathroom was downstairs from the bedroom loft. Which made it feel like hustling down the steep staircase was some kind of drunken Olympic game on most nights. But the place was hers and decorated like a Pinterest apartment. She couldn’t live entirely on her own, so the studio helped her lick her wounds while she rebuilt her savings.

Vee had to work in the morning despite closing the bar. She didn’t mind, and it kept thoughts of Jessie away. She climbed up the stairs and fell into her bed. The second beer she’d opened earlier was still full and cold with condensation.

The next morning, Vee was sent to the alley to find her boss Sharon standing beside a pile of clothes. Sharon was a thick black woman with long rope braids styled differently every day. She was probably closer to her sixties, but she looked like she was in her forties.

“What the shit is this?” Sharon asked, pointing at the pile of clothes.

Vee recognized the clothes to be the homeless man’s clothes. They were sitting in the same spot she left him in — the to-go box right beside them.

“Tell me we don’t have a naked homeless man running around the bar,” Sharon stressed, shaking her head and laughing.

He preferred that spot because it sheltered him from the rain.

Sharon was muttering about Mondays.

“The shoelaces are still tied,” Vee said at last.

“I think that’s the least of our worries.” Sharon crossed her arms.

“No, look.” Vee picked up the pants tentatively, the zipper and button were still buttoned. Neither was the button-down shirt underneath the hoodie.

“Did he disappear?” Sharon bent down to have a closer look.

Vee didn’t have an answer, but she couldn’t help but think of all the strange things that had transpired over the last few years. Maybe there was more to that homeless man than anyone realized.


	2. Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An old King revealed.

“My lord, we’re in great peril!” A young soldier announced dramatically before his king.

The old king tilted his head slightly to observe the boy with his remaining eye. He heard this same announcement at least once a week. It seemed to the king, that the soldiers looked and sounded younger with each new day.

“What is it this time?” The king responded.

“We’ve heard word of strange things happening on the Midgard as well as whereabouts of a stone of power…” The young soldier’s voice cracked.

The king motioned with his hand and the boy fell silent. His long grey hair was braided away from his face and his smile was warm and reassuring. “I thank you for your diligence, go now.”

The king rose from his golden throne and descended the steps lined with a velvet red runner. A previous invasion had the people fearful. Even the proudest surviving warriors jumped at every move. The king had much of his city rebuilt, but cracks could be found at every corner.

The next person to approach the king was a mason. He was short and stout with dark short hair and long flowing robes the color of terra cotta. He wore an emblazoned sash in the current style of their people. The king thought him to be a rather nice fellow, then he began to speak.

“My lord, repairs should be finished within the next three years, however, we need payment for the work we’ve already done.”

“And you shall receive it.” The king assured.

The mason paused awkwardly awaiting his fees. That was when the captain of the guard brazenly approached and said, “Troops also need payment.”

The king tensed with anger. “Has the royal treasury ever failed to provide? Has my long reign as king stood on debt?”

“Of course not, my king.” Both bowed in shame.

The king felt the upper hand once more and nodded. Tension eased within the throne room. “I shall see to the treasurer myself.”

After meeting with the people, the weary-looking king trod up the stone stairs towards his bedroom. He made a point of exaggerating his feeble, elderly appearance until he was well out of view from anyone before he lightly sprinted up the stairs into his room and locked the doors.

Turning from the locked double-doors, the old man fell away revealing a young, pale man with long black hair. Despite the trouble in the great hall earlier, the man smiled gleefully. He was no longer dressed in robes, but soft leather accented with green. His hair was slicked away from his face revealing piercing green eyes.

It was another day of success in the man’s mind. He’d been ruling the last year in the disguise of his father. With each passing day, no matter how hard it was, it confirmed to the man that his father was wrong about him. He made a brilliant ruler. No one knew the difference between him and his father.

With his brother off traveling the cosmos, and his people busy with rebuilding the city after the invasion, the trickster had successfully usurped the throne of his father, and he would continue to rule to the best of his ability. Strutting about his room, Loki was finally free to move as himself and not in the guise of an old man. It was only when he turned the corner did he see the man waiting on the balcony.

The trickster jumped, and his mouth fell open as the excuses and lies twisted in his mouth. The man waved him off.

“Loki, I’ve known your father for centuries. I knew it was you.”

The man was the treasurer. He was old just as the trickster’s father, perhaps more so. His cane rested on the side of the balcony beside him.

“How did you know?” The trickster smiled despite himself.

“I knew you were not Odin from the beginning. Odin and I were good friends, you knew that. That is why you avoided me.”

Loki stood between the treasurer and the door. He would deal with the treasurer by any means necessary, but he’d rather not kill an old man if it could be helped.

“I’ve been using my own resources in your stead. I’ve spent all my own units on feeding Asgard’s troops and rebuilding my father’s legacy.” Loki’s chin was raised in defiance.

“You’ve done quite well, I admit, but those funds are gone now, aren’t they?”

Loki had grown unaccustomed to people openly mocking him over the last year. No one toyed with a king the way the treasurer did to him right now. He felt the tension pull from his neck and across his shoulders. He was going to have a massive headache after cleaning this old man off the marble before he left a stain.

“Does he still live?” The old man asked.

“Of course, he still lives. He retired.”

The old man was looking over the city and its golden towers. The Bifrost could be seen from the terrace. The treasurer was quiet for a long moment before muttering to himself, “I too wish to retire.”

“Asgard must pay its debts.” The was a sharp tone in Loki’s voice. One that indicated a threat if he was disobeyed. If the treasurer noticed, he didn’t care.

“And that it shall, today in fact.” The treasurer promised.

The old man took up his cane and walked past Loki. The trickster’s mind was spinning. What did the old man want? What was his reasoning for his display? Paranoia flared in his mind and maybe that was the goal of the treasurer. Maybe it was a test to see what Loki would do. Many scenarios flashed through his mind, but ultimately, went with what he thought to be the less risky option.

“Perhaps there is something I can do for you,” Loki smiled, “for all your years of service.”  
This did nothing to stay the old man, “I honestly do intend to retire.”

This made the trickster sigh in relief. “If that is what you wish. Whatever makes you most comfortable.”

“On the morrow then!” The old man called from down the hall.

Loki relocked the doors behind the treasurer and applauded himself for a job well done. Just another day ruling the world.

The next morning, Loki transformed into the old father once again. He rather disliked pretending to be old, he would need a long-term solution for ruling, but he just hadn’t thought that far ahead. He didn’t have the time to do so. Between masons and the army, dinners, and parties, Loki’s only goal was to make it through the day.

Every morning, the old father was served bread and pickled fish. So, every morning for the past year, Loki sat at his table and stared down the pickled fish, assaulted by its aroma. The servants paid no mind to the king’s lack of appetite, apparently, that too, was a common occurrence.

The crowd parted as the king made his way down the aisle. On most mornings, this would bolster Loki’s self-confidence, but on this day, he saw suspicion in his people’s eyes. Loki shrugged the notion away. Ever since he parted ways with the scepter he felt tendrils of suspicion in his every thought…then again, it may have been from constant betrayal by loved ones that made him paranoid.

The king was seated, “Where is the treasurer? He assured me he would pay the mason and the army.”

The Mason stepped forward as did the captain of the guard.

“Payment was received, my lord.” The guard said with a bow.

“Indeed, it seems that the account is up to balance.” The Mason confirmed.

“Please excuse the tardiness, the treasurer is on the verge of retirement.” The king excused, but onlookers seemed confused.

“My lord,” a young associate of the treasurer stepped forward. “The treasurer retired this morning.”

“What!” The king jolted from his throne.

“I’m sorry sir, he said you knew.” The associate stuttered.

“Who did he give the key to?”

“I…I…He said you…my lord.”

Loki’s façade was on the verge of slipping. He steadied his breathing and resumed his hunched posture.

“Where is he now?”

The king rushed across the rainbow bridge with a complement of guards. The bridge glowed with the colors of the spectrum underneath the morning light. It would be a wonder to behold if it were not for the missing treasury key. At the end of the rainbow bridge, a rounded building at the edge of the world awaited them. Within that building, was the gatekeeper, who no doubt had been waiting for him.

“My king.” The gatekeeper greeted.

“You sent the treasurer somewhere, where did he go?”

The gatekeeper was cast in gold armor with a spiked helmet. His golden eyes glowed against his ebony skin. A majestic figure who controlled the Bifrost, delivering people from one realm to the next. He stood beside a podium in the center of the room. In his hands, Heimdall held the sword that served as the key to all the nine realms. Once the sword was in the podium, the bearer of the sword could open the gateway.

“I sent him to walk along the markets of Pike.” The gatekeeper replied.

Loki bit his tongue and stayed his eyes. The gatekeeper saw all, there was a chance he knew Loki was an imposter, but for whatever reason, he hadn’t shared that information with everyone else. Perhaps Heimdall was not all-seeing after all. Was this the second time Loki deceived him?

“Can you be a bit more specific?” The king asked.

Heimdall grinned, “You pride yourself on your cleverness, you figure it out.”

Many thoughts went through Loki’s mind at that moment. None of them were of what Odin would’ve done. Mostly, his mind went to violence, treason, and pain.

The king seethed with anger for several moments. He pointed an angry finger at the gatekeeper before yelling, “arrest him!”

The guards charged the gatekeeper with spears drawn, but Heimdall was faster. The longsword was in the podium and the gateway was activated. The gatekeeper dove through the portal and was gone. They had no idea where the gatekeeper would’ve landed, only the person who turned the sword would know that.

Loki convinced himself it was a good thing. The only two people who knew the truth about him had fled Asgard. It ultimately removed his strongest opposition. There were still his brother’s cronies to deal with, but he had endless adventures to send them on.

“What do we do now, sire?” A soldier asked with a heavy accent.

The king turned to the soldier who took off his helmet, exposing his large, bald, head that was lined with black tattoos. It didn’t take much jarring to remember that this thick soldier was named Skurge. He was a miserable soldier who was desperate to prove himself. Just what Loki needed.

“Good of you to ask, Skurge. I now promote you to the position of gatekeeper.” The king announced.  
“Thank you, sire!” Skurge kneeled in his heavy armor.

After Loki sent his escorts away, he turned to Skurge. “Be sure announce Thor’s arrival immediately should he return.”

“Yes, Sire, thank you, sire.”

While this day did not go as planned, Loki’s ability to improvise continued to serve him well. He had twisted several potential disasters into his own gain. Everyone was paid and Heimdall was gone, but there was still the matter of the key. He would need that to access Asgard’s riches.

Loki had a puzzle on his hands. To find the treasurer, or rather, the treasurer’s key, he would need to find the market of Pike. The king fell wearily onto his throne and rested his head in his hand. The court was dismissed by this action. They all knew this meant that the king would not see to any further matters on this day.


End file.
